Get your own body camera https://amzn.to/2HmkiT2
The treatment of a 25-year-old black Mobile woman who was arrested early Sunday morning inside a Waffle House in Saraland by white Saraland Police officers is quickly driving outrage in Alabama and beyond.
Chikesia Clemons, whose arrest was captured on graphic video that is currently going viral on social media, will be speaking to members of the Mobile County NAACP Branch Sunday afternoon. Several community members held a sit-in protest Sunday afternoon in the parking lot of the Waffle House where the incident took place.
The whole episode should never have happened, Clemons's mother, Chiquitta Clemons-Howard, told AL.com on behalf of her daughter Sunday afternoon.
The arrest comes at a national moment when the way people of color are treated by police in public places is under intense scrutiny, following the April 12 arrests of two black men sitting inside a Philadelphia Starbucks on charges that they were trespassing. That incident caused such an outcry that Philadelphia police Commissioner Richard Ross publicly apologized to the men and Starbucks announced last week that it will close 8,000 U.S. stores for racial bias training.
The new cellphone video, which was captured early Sunday by Clemons's friend Canita Adams, depicts Saraland Police officers speaking briefly with Clemons before pulling her down off a chair and onto the tile floor of the Waffle House.
Three officers stand over Clemons as they pull on her arms and try to flip her over so she can be arrested. In the course of the altercation, her clothes are pulled down to reveal her breasts as white patrons continue to eat in the background.
"What are you doing?" Clemons asks at one point, to which an officer responds, "I'll break your arm, that's what I'm about to do."
She was ultimately arrested at about 2:45 a.m. and booked on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to Clemons-Howard, who said she paid Clemons's $1,000 bond Sunday morning.
The whole incident was precipitated by a dispute over plastic utensils.
Clemons asked for plastic utensils while placing an order at the Waffle House on Industrial Parkway in Saraland early Sunday morning, and was told by a female employee that plasticware costs 50 cents, according to Clemons-Howard.
When Clemons and Adams told the employee that they had not been charged for utensils when they purchased food from the same Waffle House the night before, the employee canceled the order, Clemons-Howard said. At that point Clemons asked for the contact information of the Waffle House district manager who oversees the Saraland location.
"They didn't even ask her to leave, she was waiting for them to give her the district manager's card so she could file a complaint on one of the waitresses," Clemons-Howard said. "When they went to go get the card, that's when the police showed up. The officer should've come in and said we need you to leave."
What happened after that was a miscarriage of justice, according to Clemons-Howard.
"The footage shows the story completely," she said, declining to go into further detail. "My nerves are very, very bad right now."
Mobile NAACP President David Smith said in a Sunday statement that the organization is gathering facts about the incident.
"In light of the current situation in our country -- such as the arrest of two young black men at a Philadelphia Starbucks coffee shop -- we felt it was important for our members to get a first-hand account of the incident, which has now gone viral on social media locally and across the country," Smith said.
Waffle House spokesperson Pat Warner did not respond to a request for comment Sunday afternoon.
Det. Collette Little, a spokeswoman with the Saraland Police Department, issued a statement Sunday saying that the department is investigating the incident and that it will have a more detailed response once it has gathered all relevant information.
"The Saraland Police Department is aware of the arrest at Waffle House and the accompanying video on social media," the statement said. "The situation is being thoroughly reviewed and is under active investigation right now. Our department strives for transparency and we encourage our community to be aware of current events."
▶️ DTube
▶️ IPFS
Hi! I am a robot. I just upvoted you! I found similar content that readers might be interested in:
http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2018/04/outrage_growing_over_black_wom.html
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit